With both Gates and Raikes moving over, does the foundation risk assimilating too much of the Microsoft culture and approach? That was a central question during a conference call with reporters. One reporter asked why the foundation didn’t bring in someone with more experience in one of its program areas. Here’s what Melinda Gates said.

This is something that Bill and I have thought long and hard about, for certain. Microsoft and the foundation are clearly two separate entities and we keep them very separate. We did a worldwide search for a leader, the next person to be the CEO of the Gates Foundation. … What we kept coming back to is that we really wanted somebody to build on the organization that we have today. We’re in the process of taking in Warren Buffett’s fantastic gift and building the organization to the next level to do that, and I think what Patty started here, with the 500-plus employees that we have, we’re ready to build on that and take it to the next level. What we saw in Jeff were the right leadership qualities. He has a lot of ambition. He has taken on very complex projects, which was something we were looking for in a CEO. But even more importantly, I would say that we have shared passion around these issues, and we knew that we had the same core set of values. As Warren Buffett said to us, picking the next CEO, it was very important to pick somebody that maximized both Bill and me, and the organization that we have in place.

As a follow-up, Melinda Gates was asked how the Gates Foundation’s culture differs from Microsoft’s culture. Here’s what she said to that:

The mission of the two organizations is quite distinct. But I would say that some of the culture that’s in at both organizations are people who look for rigor in their jobs, really try and measure the results, they set ambitious targets, and they move forward on those, and I would say those things are the same. What I would say is different about the Gates Foundation is that we already have an organization where we have, luckily, lots of representation from around the world.

Raikes also has a connection to Buffett, the famous investor. Both are from Nebraska, and an early e-mail message between them, in which Raikes spelled out Microsoft’s business strategy, was used as evidence against the company in an antitrust trial: PDF, 3 pages.